I just got a message from Steve Earle himself with his gmail!!! I’m gonna die. He said thanks for the love. I’ve arrived ❤️ 🎸
Justin Townes Earle playing Champagne Corolla on Recording King Parlor. Priceless.
This little Gibson is the Steve’s. He told a story about this guitar today. He told his sons that they had to pick just 1 guitar out of his collection to be theirs after he dies. Justin picked this one.
That's a damn shame his son died so young. No parent should have to go through that.
Heroin addicts are tortured spirits. The guilt they feel over using is constant and gnawing on the soul. How can something that makes you feel so good make you feel so bad? How come everyone hates what the addict loves so much? I always called it ‘the mistress’. They’ll love you, their children, the entire family around them but they’ll always have this little secret on the side that they choose over you all every time. ‘She’ll’ always come first. Before coffee, work, food, sex, talent, and life. Christmas is starting, Your child is being born. They gotta have their ritual with her first. They’ll cheat on you with her every day, at least twice. Not a sexual affair, but a dependence and a bond you can’t fight. If you try to fight it, it gets stronger. The inter mental struggle is constant. It takes a ton of effort to keep her quiet. You see her, uninvited, there at your dinner table. Cigarette burns on every thing around them. The nod, the scratch of the nose. It’s ‘her’ way of letting you know she’s there, making sure you see how she got him first, over you all. I spent many years deep inside a heroin using community, not as a user, but as an observer. I studied her hold on my community, the people I’d grown to love. They weren’t bad people,some worked hard, some ripped and tore. They all had moms, and dads and kids and people who loved them fiercely. There are few, very few old ones. Most all succumbed to her firm grasp. ‘She’ yanked them away from life one at a time.
( This is an edited excerpt from a not so short story I wrote many years ago about my life living with several heroin addicts in Northern California)
@jerseychicadee If you don't mind my asking, how did you manage to keep from getting sucked into using yourself? A personal question, I know, but I'm interested. I've never known anyone addicted to heroin.
We just finished watching Long, Strange Trip on Amazon, a documentary about the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia was an addict and it ultimately took his life, I believe. They said it was heart failure but most likely the catalyst for his death was the heroin.
I was a band geek. More like the band nazi. I should have gone into law enforcement. Pretty straight arrow. I dated cops in my young years.
I just would never do it. Not on my radar. Not even a taste. I grew up in the ‘60’s and just never got into it. Then once you see how it grips your life, if you’re lucky enough to recognize how horrible it is, and you’re smart, you know it sucks. I think I was most afraid I’d die and my mother would be told! Lol. While working on my nursing degree,I had a lot of time to take extra courses. I ended up with a second degree in Abnormal Psychology which I turned into a focus path on Chemical Addiction Neurophysiology. I never ‘worked’ in psychology but I spent many years working in the VA health system where most all of the patients had dual diagnoses.
Jerry Garcia and my mother in law grew up together. She was his girlfriend in high school. She used (she’s passed on) to tell stories about riding motorcycles and running the streets of San Francisco in the ‘60’s with him. He was gone when I met her.
Wow, you've had an interesting life! And how cool to hear stories from your mother-in-law about Jerry Garcia. Wish my MIL was that interesting. LOL
I was never really around hard drugs even though I grew up in the 60's and 70's. Just the usual weed and beer, wine, etc., and that's probably a good thing.
I always say, “I’ve been around the block a couple of times...and I walked every step of the way”
Wow is right. Great insights.
My family lost my nephew Josh (24 years old) a few months ago to a heroine OD. Just so tragic. The devastation to the family has been heartbreaking. My sister will never recover from this. Probably true of any loss of one of your kids but this almost feels like the kind of aftermath from a suicide.
Btw, both videos are great. Thanks, JChick, for sharing them. What a wonderful singer-songwriter talent he is. Emphasis on “is” as that’s what great art delivers - immortality.
The more I read about JTE, his life, his death, and the aftermath I just feel angry. This is an artist that I didn’t know but really like what I’m hearing in those vids. But then to think, that’s all he’ll ever gift us with. What a waste.
And, I feel for the wife and sweet daughter that’ll grow up w/o a Dad (something I know about).
I f#%^*+g hate addiction.
Like Blaze Foley said, “There ain’t nobody to walk us away from this”.
@k2kwiatgmail-com I feel the same way. Wasn't really familiar with his music but after watching a few of his videos I felt sad that he wasn't around anymore to make more music. It's quite a loss.